Talking
about outstanding natural beauty in China will inevitably take me to the
West. West to the sources of the Yellow River, to the 'Cao Yuan',
the Grassland. A high-altitude steppe covered with an endless veil of wildflowers
and the black wild looking Yaks, dotted all over the plain. Small silver
shining ribbons of streams appear in this pattern and maybe a herdsmen is
galloping over this wide land to watch his cattle. Sometimes your eyes will
be caught be thin blue smoke coming out the black yurts, the summer homes
of the nomad people. Feel free to enter this place for a chat! Ask for a
glass of Yak milk or a bowl of yoghurt! Where are those 1,3 Billion people?
Is this overpopulated, polluted China?

Let
your eyes continue the journey over this inspiring plain until it reaches
the far end. At the very distance, high granite mountains reach into the
blue sky and frame the whole picture.

Langmusi, Zoige, Songpan and Jiuzhaigou in Gansu and Sichuan
would be your destinations to audit this play of nature. Let's discuss a
journey for you to the wild west of China! Nothing compares!

Going further north-west you may discover another face of China's nature:
the 'Oasis of Fire', the Turpan depression. Yes, on the edge of the enormous
Taklamakan Desert is the second lowest place on earth and the hottest
spot in China: Turpan. You ask me, are you serious to get me there? Yes,
I am!

September and October are the perfect months to enjoy this golden oasis.
The seedless Turpan grapes are famous all over China; the Hami melons are
sweeter than anywhere else and practically everything can be grown in this
hot, dry climate due to an ingenious irrigations systems invented hundreds
of years ago.

Sit underneath the wine trellises and watch the starlit sky! Life can be
good in Turpan!

Of course, there is more natural beauty to discover. All those holy mountains
not to mention Huangshan. You can climb them, you will admire the rock formations
and the bizarre shape of the pine trees. Of course this is China, but where
is the solitude, since you have to share these attractions with hundreds
of other tourists? How can you contemplate in a landscape that deserves
silence to reveal its myth? How did the great Chinese philosophers do their
work here?

There
are two more places, where I would like to take you in China! It's the area
around Jade-Dragon-Snow-Mountain and Lijiang. Because of the southern
location, even in November you will have sunny warm days, though the mountain
rises up to 5596 m. But even better, come in spring time, when the forests
are literally burning with the glow of azaleas and rhododendron. No gardener
could ever design a land of such outmost beauty! Snow capped mountains,
green meadows, clear water from the sources, the shades of pink and red
blooms.

Last but not least a destination with mixed reports. The Li River and its
limestone formations. A day along the River Li can be the most relaxing,
most cheerful, most enjoyable experience. It can also be expensive, annoying
and boring!

So
start off with your bicycle at hand, board one of those small boats in Yangshuo,
take your 'seat' in front of the boat and let your feet glide in the cool,
clear water. See the people along the river, cleaning their vegetables,
collecting tang out of the water or planting rice in the fields along the
river. This is my China! This can be your China! Go out and find it!